Doctor Who Character Building

Many Doctor Who fans have prayed for years for a range of toys manufactured by a popular toy brick building company from Denmark – and while this news suggests that it will be a very long time before that happens, a certain other company has the Character to combine brick building with the ethos of Doctor Who!

BBC Worldwide has announced a major new deal withprimary licensee Character Optionsâ€™ new Construction division which will seeDoctor Who enter the construction toy market!

Wittily titled “Character Building” the range will include 3D micro-figures, brought to life with sculpted facial features whilst play sets will be uniquely tailored to Doctor Who. Fans will be able to build their own Doctor Who world with all their favourite characters including the Doctor and Amy Pond with their famous foes the Daleks, Cybermen and Weeping Angels.

Jon Diver is Character Groupâ€™s Joint Managing Director:

â€œThis new project represents a major investment for us and we are delighted to be increasing our Doctor Who portfolio. In doing so we will also be supplying a new option to the child constructor who will now have the choice of a construction toy that has all the excitement and appeal that the licences brings with them.â€

Meanwhile Doctor Who stars Matt Smith and Karen Gillan have already witnessed their minifigs micro-figures first hand, with Matt observing:

â€œIt was very surreal and funny coming face to face with a miniature version of myself as the Doctor but Iâ€™m glad that the Doctorâ€™s trusty Sonic Screwdriver is in his hand, ready to fend off attacks from monsters!â€

Karen’s interest seems a little less… healthy, however:

â€œI absolutely love these miniature toys of The Doctor and Amy Pond despite the strange sensation of seeing myself immortalised in plastic and miniature and buildable…and dissectible. I’m loving Pond’s flaming ginger mane and itâ€™s funny to think that The Doctor and Amy are small enough to travel around in someone’s pocket!

Distinctive to the Character Building range will be the use of texture on some of the building blocks, whether it be the sleek and smooth edges of a spaceship, or the rough edges of a rock face. This will be pivotal in recreating each environment, providing a natural look, but still allowing easy construction play.

The entire range will be displayed at the Character Options stand at the London Toy Fair with the first products set for release in Spring 2011.

A long-term Doctor Who fan, Christian grew up watching the show and has early memories of the Graham Williams era. His favourite stories are Inferno, The Seeds of Doom and Human Nature (although The Empty Child, Blink and Utopia all come close). When he’s not bossing around the news team, Christian is a freelance writer specialising in mobile technology and domestic computing, and enjoys classic rock, cooking and spending time in the countryside with his wife and young children. You can find him on Twitter, Facebook and Google+.